Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1884 — TWO BUSY LIVES ENDED. [ARTICLE]

TWO BUSY LIVES ENDED.

Death of Cyrus H. McCormick, the Well-Known Reaper Manufacturer. Charles o’Conor, the Celebrated Lawyer, Joins the Silent Majority. Cyras H. McCormick. Cyras Hall McCormick, the well-known millionaire and inventor, and proprietor of the famous McCormick reaper, died at his home in Chicago on the 13th of May. Cyrus H. McCormick was bom in Rockbridge County, Va., Feb. 15, 1809, and was consequently 75 years old. His parents were of Scotch-Irish descent, and he inherited from his father an inventive turn of mind that did him great service while he was yet a young man. Bom on a farm, he early saw that agriculture was not keeping pace with mechanics and manufactures in inventions for the relief of labor, and when 15 years old he began his inventions for the improvement of farm work by constructing a “ cradle," which he used in the harvest field with success. His father had previously invented a reaper, but, failing to attain the success hoped for, it was laid wide. The son observed the defects and patiently went to work to remedy them. In 1831 he achieved his aim and gave to the world the first practical reaping machine. He built it with his own hand, and tested it in the harvest field. Although successful in his attempt, he did not at once embark in the manufacture, but kept adding improvements from time to time. About this period he became interested in tlje smelting of iron, and engaged in that business until reverses came upon him, and he removed to Cincinnati in 1844, where he made arrangements to manufacture the reaper. Two years later, discovering Chicago to be a better field for the establishment of such a business, he at once began the work. In 1848 he made and sold 700 machines, in the following year 1,500; since then the annual sales have regularly and rapidly increased until now not less than 50,000 are sold every year. The Hon. Reverdy Johnson, in an argument before the Commissioner of Patents in 1859, said that the McCormick reaper had already contributed an annual income to the whole country of $55,000,000, which must increase through all time. The world at large has not been slow to honor Mr. McCormick for what he has done for agriculture. Medals and decorations have been bestowed on him by the crowned heads of Europe, and at every international world’s fair ever held he was awarded superior honors for his inventions. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest, and at its inception bestowed SIOO,OOO to endow a professorship in it, and from time to time, as occasion required, he increased his donations, so that they more than tripled the original gift. Recently he learned that the seminary required enlargement and houses for the professors, and gave SIOO,000 for the purpose. He gave to the Washington and Lee College, of Virginia, and few but himself know how many struggling churches, colleges, and schools are indebted to his generosity fer means of maintenance. In view of his beneficence, and the worldwide reputation of his reaping-machine, perhaps no other name is more widely known than that of C. H. McCormick. Mr. McCormick was an active politician, and stood high in the councils of the Pemocratic party, to which he adhered. In 1872 he bought the Interior, the organ of the Presbyterian Church in the West, and has retained the ownership ever since. The value of the estate left by the deceased is estimated in the neighborhood of $20,000,000. Whatever the exact figures, he was one of the wealthiest—if not the wealthiest —men in Chicago.

Charles O’Conor. The great jurist, Charles O’Conor, died in Nantucket, Mass., on the 12th of May, after a protracted illness. For more than a week he had token no nourishment whatever. His mind was clear to the last His dying words were simply “My God.” Mr. O’Conor was bom of Irish parents in New York City. His father came to this country near the beginning of the century, shortly before the birth of the son, and was then in possession of much wealth. This he subsequently lost, and a consequence was that the son received a comparatively limited education. In addition to the ordinary branches of the primary schools, he obtained some instruction in Latin from his father, and also in French. In 1824 he was admitted to the bar, and almost at once entered upon a large, successful, profitable, and distinguished practice. The defects of education he overcame by a life of study. He devoted himself exclusively to the law, and during his fifty years of professional life resisted every appeal and inducement to engage in politics. For many years he was confessedly at the head of the American bar. As early as 1829 he had taken distinguished rank as a lawyer in the New York courts. Since then he had been conspicuous before the country for his ability. Eleven years ago be volunteered his services, in the interest of public morals, to prosecute the municipal officers of New York City and county, accused with Tweed in conspiring to plunder the public. His services were all the more valuable in this instance because the influence of his personal aild professional character was almost irresistible. The only official position he ever held was the office of United States District Attorney of New York; this place he accepted at the personal request of President Pierce, but resigned it after a year’s service. He was a member of the conventions which framed the Constitutions of New York in 1846 and in 1864. He was an able constitutional lawyer. Mr. O’Conor was an intense Democrat on all questions of constitutional interpretation. The doctrine of State sovereignty and State rights was often and ably discussed by him. In 1872 he was nominated for President by the antiGreeley Democrats, who held a convention in Louisville, and also by the Labor Reform Convention, which met in Philadelphia, but peremptorily declined to be a candidate under any circumstances. His ambition was confined solely to his profession, where he was eminently successful.